Government

Facing an agitated crowd from the Panhandle, Lancaster County Council on Monday night reinstated two Indian Land members of the county planning commission who had been removed for missing too many meetings.
Jerry Holt and David Freeman both missed five meetings this fiscal year, which automatically vacated their seats under county ordinance.
Before voting, council members warned the two that if they wanted to be on the commission, they had to show up.

Lancaster County Council reversed course on the Avondale development Monday night, voting to more forward with the project despite pleas from an overflowing chamber of red-shirted Indian Land residents.
But the council also is placing the proposed Ansley Park project back on the agenda for its June 27 meeting, to address neighbors’ concerns about a change in the plan that they fear will worsen traffic.
The Avondale ordinance will return to council for a second reading June 27. A public hearing will be held before the third and final reading.

Top vote-getters Terry Graham and Melvin Stroble will face off again June 28 in a runoff election for Lancaster County Council District 1.
Graham, of Van Wyck, and Stroble, of Indian Land, were two of four candidates in the running for the District 1 council seat of outgoing councilman Larry McCullough. The others were J.R. Wilt of Van Wyck and David Freeman of Indian Land.

U.S. Rep. Mick Mulvaney was cruising to an easy victory Tuesday night in the Republican Party primary.
Mulvaney, who is seeking his fourth term in Congress, beat political newcomer Ray Craig, who had come out swinging in the race.
“Most folks within the district are fairly comfortable with my voting record and representation,” Mulvaney said Tuesday night. “They might not agree with me 100 percent of the time, but they know I am working hard on their behalf.”

Hazel Taylor will become Lancaster City Council newest member after a landslide win in Tuesday’s special election.
Taylor beat U.S. Postal Service worker Nick Parris Jr. 154-20 in the nonpartisan race for the District 5 seat, which involved voters in the University and Lancaster West precincts.
A retired Lancaster County employee and 16-year member of the Lancaster County Election Commission, Taylor was in her first run for public office.

The Lancaster County auditor race will be settled in a runoff election June 28 between Allen Blackmon and Susan Hunter Wallace, since none of the candidates received a majority of the votes cast Tuesday.
Hunter Wallace received 1,789 votes in Tuesday’s Republican primary, or 43 percent. Blackmon got 1,299 votes, 31 percent. Suzette Connell Murphy received 1,070 votes, or 26 percent.

Tuesday’s special nonpartisan Lancaster City Council election will produce a new representative for District 5.
The 928 registered city voters in the Lancaster West and University precincts will chose either Nick Parris Jr. or Hazel Taylor to fill John Howard’s remaining term, which expires in 2018.
Howard resigned from the seat in March after he was elected mayor to fill the unexpired term of the late Joe Shaw. The mayor’s term also runs through 2018.
Parris, a lifelong Lancaster resident, works for the U.S. Postal Service in Rock Hill.

The Avondale development in Indian Land will be back on the table at the Juen 13 county council meeting, five months after council members killed the project in the face of neighbors’ protests.
Council member Charlene McGriff made a request after the executive session at the May 23 council meeting for a motion to rescind the council’s rezoning denial for the Avondale Planned Development.
Council discussed ongoing contractual negotiations between the county and Charlotte-based developer Sinacori Builders during the executive session.

Lancaster County voters heading to the polls for the 2016 statewide primaries June 14 will cast ballots in up to three races, depending on where they live.
In the meantime, a county elections official said issues with the Van Wyck precinct lines have been sorted out and new voter registration cards mailed to those eligible to vote at the Van Wyck Community Center poll.